CH. Yi MARINE FAryA OF TALISSE SHORES 139 



between. In some places where the green weeds are pretty 

 thick, the ancient brachiopod Lingula may be found. The 

 natives being fond of it as an article of food are very chary 

 of showing anyone the places where it hves. 



There are considerable numbers of orbitohtes, calcarinas, 

 and other foraminifera, and very frequently the large and 

 beautiful star -fishes Pentaceros and Ophidiaster may be 

 found drying on the sand or slowly moving ia the shallow 

 pools. 



The sands are perforated by holes which I beMeve are the 

 retreats of crabs, but I really did not give them the attention 

 they perhaps deserved. I had inadvertently forgotten to 

 bring with me from England a good iron spade, and con- 

 sequently I postponed from time to time the investigation 

 of these holes untn it was too late. The only time I did 

 any spade-digging on lagoon sands was when I was in search 

 of the owner of some long thin tentacular filaments which 

 may be seen m some places stretching for long distances 

 across the sands. I found several of these upon some damp 

 loose sand north of the spot marked Parigi in the map, but 

 I cannot say that Ihave satisfactorily made out their mean- 

 ing. As soon as I began to dig, these filaments contracted, 

 and the shorter and thicker they became, the more they 

 resembled anemone tentacles, but I did not succeed in 

 digging up the animal to which they belonged. I may be 

 excused for mentioning this zoological failure of mine here, 

 because it may attract the attention of other naturahsts 

 traveUiag in these countries, and induce them to make 

 another attempt to solve the difficulty. Since my return 

 I have been mformed that these filamentous bodies are 

 frequently to be seen on tropical sands, and I know of 

 no investigations that have at present been made which 

 win explain them. There is one little crab very com- 

 monly found upon the sands of the lagoon, belonging to 



